Gun installation with structure pivotable with respect to line of fire



MY. 2%, 1957 ILL 2,814,234

GUN INSTALLATION WITH STRUCTURE PIVOTABLE WITH RESPECT To LINE 0F FIRE Flled April 6 .1954

ATTUHNEY GUN INSTALLATIGN WITH STRUCTURE PIVOT- ABLE WITH RESPECT T LINE OF FIRE Bernard Maillard, Geneva, Switzerland, assignor to Brevets Aero-Mecaniques S. A., Geneva, Switzerland, a society of Switzerland Application April 6, 1954, Serial No. 421,227

Claims priority, application Luxemburg April 7, 1953 3 Claims. (Cl. 89-41) The present invention relates to gun installations to be mounted on vehicles (aircrafts, ships or land vehicles), the expression gun installation including in the present case all arms intended to launch a projectile or a missile either self-propelled or not, that is to say cannons, torpedo launching tubes, rocket launching devices, etc. My invention is more especially but not exclusively concerned with gun installations to be mounted on ships and including guns of relatively small caliber (i. e. from 20 to 50 mm. caliber) intended to fire on targets located substantially at the level of water.

The object of my invention is to provide a gun installation which is better adapted to meet the requirements of practice and in particular which facilitates the task of the gunner who is pointing the gun.

My invention is concerned with gun installations of this kind including the gun proper, freely pivotable on the vehicle about two axes at right angles to each other, and fixed with respect to said vehicle, and laying control means fixed on a rigid structure carried by said gun so as to have the same rotational displacements with respect to said vehicle as said gun.

According to my invention said rigid structure is freely pivotable with respect to the gun about an axis parallel to the line of fire thereof, but is fixed angularly with respect to said gun about any axis making an angle with said line of fire, and the sighting device of the installation is mounted in fixed position on said rigid structure.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings, given merely by way of example, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a gun installation including an automatic gun and intended to be mounted on board a ship, this installation being made according to my invention.

Fig. 2 shows the same installation, seen from behind, when the ship is inclined transversely with respect to the line of fire.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but in which the automatic gun is supposed to have been replaced by torpedo launching tubes.

In the following description it will be supposed that the gun installation is to be fitted on a ship diagrammatically shown at N, for instance a motor boat.

The installation according to my invention includes at least one launching firearm which will be supposed, in the case of Figs. 1 and 2, to be an automatic gun I of small caliber, this gun being mounted freely pivotable with respect to ship N about two axes at right angles to each other and therefore forming a Cardan mount, whereby the gun can be laid both in direction and in elevation.

For instance, as shown by the drawing, a fixed support 2 rigid with the ship carries a pivoting part 3 rotatable about an axis XX with respect to said support, this axis XX being preferably substantially vertical when the ship is in normal position.

Pivoting part 3 carries a pair of trunnions 4 extending Patented Nov. 26, 1957 along the axis YY about which gun 1 can be laid in elevation.

The gun proper, that is to say the gun barrel and its breech system, is mounted slidable in a cradle 5 pivoted about said trunnions 4, the line of fire of the gun (i. e. the axis of symmetry of barrel 1) being at right angles to the axis YY of trunnions 4.

Such a gun installation includes a laying device which is also mounted in Cardan-like fashion with respect to ship N. As it will be hereinafter supposed, the axes about which said laying device is pivotable are coincident with pivot axes XX and YY.

The gun installation is of the type in which laying is performed directly by the gunner who gives thereto the desired displacements with respect to support 2. For this purpose for instance, the laying device includes a rigid framework 6 which includes shoulder pieces 7 and handles 8 one of which advantageously carries the firing trigger 8a.

Such an arrangement enables the gunner to point the gun on the target. But if the laying framework were rigid with the gun, it would be necessary for the gunner to keep his shoulders constantly parallel to axis YY. Now, whereas this involves no difficulty and is even natural when the ship deck N is horizontal, it is clear that when the ship is pitching or rolling it would be very difficult for the gunner to keep his shoulders on a line constantly parallel to YY. As a matter of fact, the tendency of a man standing on a ship that is moving is to keep the line of his shoulders horizontal as far as possible.

It should be well understood that a gunner compelled to keep the line of his shoulders constantly parallel to axis YY experiences great difficulty in keeping his balance which is of course prejudicial to a good pointing of the gun.

In order to obviate this diificulty, according to my invention, the gun installation is made as follows: The framework 6 of the laying device is mounted pivotable with respect to the gun cradle 5 about an axis Z-Z fixed with respect thereto and parallel to the line of fire. Said framework has no other degree of freedom with respect to said gun than the possibility thus given to said framework 6 of pivoting with respect to said gun cradle 5 about axis ZZ'. The sighting device is mounted in fixed position on this framework 6. Advantageously, said sighting device includes cross hairs 9 and eyehole 9a. The optical axis of said sighting device (i. e. the axis passing through eyehole 9a and the centre of cross hairs 9) may be kept constantly parallel to the line of fire, that is to say to the axis of the barrel 1 of the gun, but it may be made adjustable with respect to said line of fire by providing means for modifying the elevation angle between said optical axis and the line of fire according to the firing conditions.

Thus, whereas the pivoting movements of the laying framework about axes XX and YY make it possible instantaneously to impart to the gun any rotation, including traversing and elevating components, by direct action on said framework, the pivoting movements of said laying framework above axis ZZ have no influence whatever upon the direction of the line of fire of the gun and are only intended to enable the gunner to keep the line of his shoulders substantially horizontal in order to keep his balance.

This will greatly facilitate laying when the ship is rolling or pitching.

While as above stated an important advantage of my arrangement is to facilitate the task of the gunner by enabling him to keep his shoulders on a horizontal line, this arrangement further has the following advantage.

The reactions due to the weight of the gun that are supported by the shoulders of the gunner are substantially reduced since the gunner will never be compelled to oppose a swinging side movement of the system constituted by the gun, its cradle and its cartridge feed device as this were the case in gun installations where the above mentioned system was mounted on a deformable parallelogram which had a tendency to deform as soon as the direction of the gun became inclined. With such installations including a parallelogram system, due to the recoil of the arm that was laterally offset, important reactions were produced which were transmitted to the portion of the installation acting as a turret. In the case of my installation, recoil reactions are on the contrary fully absorbed by the pivot axes which support the gun.

In order to reduce as much as possible the weight supported by the shoulders of the gunner, it is of course advantageous, as known in itself, to balance the pivoting masses which is obtained by arranging the whole in such manner that pivot axes XX and YY' intersect each other at a point which is substantially at the centre of gravity of the system.

The arrangement is substantially the same when the installation includes, instead of a gun 1, one or several torpedo launching tubes 10, as shown by Fig. 3. In this case, these tubes are supported by a frame 11 mounted on support 3 in the same manner as the cradle 5 of the installation of Figs. 1 and 2. The laying device 6 is then pivoted with respect to said frame 11, about an axis ZZ' parallel to the line of fire of the torpedo launching tubes 10.

In a general manner, while I have, in the above description, disclosed What I deem to be practical and efficient embodiments of my invention, it should be well understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto as there might be changes made in the arrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing from the principle of the present invention as comprehended within the scope of the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. For use on a vehicle liable to have erratic displacements, a gun installation which comprises, in combination, a gun freely pivotable with respect to said vehicle about two axes fixed with respect to said vehicle and at right angles to each other, a rigid structure freely pivotable with respect to said gun about an axis parallel to the line of fire thereof, said rigid structure being fixed angularly with respect to said gun about any axis making an angle with said line of fire, laying control means rigidly carried by said structure for displacement thereof by 4 the gunner to enable him directly and instantaneously to turn said structure in any desired direction within given limits with respect to said vehicle, and a sighting device mounted in fixed position on said structure.

2. For use on a vehicle liable to have erratic displacements, a gun installation which comprises, in combination, a gun cradle freely pivotable with respect to said vehicle about two axes fixed with respect to said vehicle and at right angles to each other, a gun barrel slidable longitudinally in said cradle, a rigid structure freely pivotable with respect to said gun cradle about an axis parallel to the line of fire of said gun, said rigid structure having a, single degree of freedom with respect to said gun cradle, said degree of freedom consisting in the possibility for said structure of rotating about said last mentioned axis with respect to said gun cradle, laying control means rigidly carried by said structure for displacement thereof by the gunner to enable him directly and instantaneously to turn said structure in any desired direction within given limits with respect to said vehicle, and a sighting device mounted in fixed position on said structure.

3. For use on a vehicle liable to have erratic displacements, a gun installation which comprises, in combination, a gun cradle freely pivotable with respect to said vehicle about two axes fixed with respect to said vehicle and at right angles to each other, a gun barrel slidable longitudinally in said cradle, a rigid framework pivoted to said gun cradle about an axis parallel to the line of fire of said gun, said rigid framework having a single degree of freedom with respect to said gun cradle, said degree of freedom consisting in the possibility for said framework of rotating about said last mentioned axis with respect to said gun cradle, shoulder pieces and handles rigid with said framework for displacement thereof by the gunner to enable him directly and instantaneously to turn said framework in any desired direction within given limits with respect to said vehicle, and a sighting device mounted in fixed position on said framework.

Refereuces Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,601,807 Wasem July 1, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 140,631 Austria Feb. 11, 1935 895,869 France Apr. 17, 1944 835,423 Germany Mar. 31, 1952 512,544 Belgium July 31, 1952 

